Student death at Isha Yoga's Surya Kund: Family says he had no history of illness

A day after the death of a 20-year-old engineering student during a 'holy dip' at the Isha Yoga centre's 'Surya Kund', his family has demanded a probe, and stated that he had no history of epilepsy as claimed by the police earlier.

 

Ramesh, a third-year civil engineering student from Tirunelveli had gone to the Isha Yoga Centre with 35 other students from college. He was taking a dip in the Centre's 'Surya Kundam' when his health deteriorated and he was taken to a private hospital. Doctors there declared that he was brought dead.

 

Both the police and sources in Isha claimed that the boy had a medical history of epilepsy and could have led to his drowning in the water, that stood at 4 feet. They were reportedly told that Ramesh, the deceased, had epileptic fits in the past by his classmates. The student's parents however categorically denied this claim.

 

"My son was extremely healthy. He had no problem at all," said Ramesh's mother Vasanthi, who had come to Coimbatore to collect her son's body. "My son told me the college organised this trip but authorities are denying this. I want to know the truth about my son's death," she said.

 

Authorities from the Gandhipathy Tulsi Jain College of Engineering were however, unavailable for comment.

 

According to Coimbatore SP (Rural) Ramya Bharathi, medical reports indicate that Ramesh's death occurred due to shock. "Postmortem shows that he died because of drowning. Doctors say that he may have gone into shock on contact with cold water. Your heart could stop functioning in such a situation. You can then drown even in four feet of water," said the investigating officer. "If the parents suspect foul play, they wouldn't have taken the body and gone. They are yet to file a formal complaint with the police," she added.

 

A member of Isha's Yoga Centre however, dismisses the claim that the water's temperature could have led to shock. "We keep the temperature of the water in the Surya kund only two degrees below that of the outside temperature. On Friday, the water's temperature was at about 25 degrees. Nobody can get a shock from that. So many students were there, why would only this boy be affected?" asks a member of the centre's PR team.

 

The family however will have none of it. "People are telling us that the mercury content in the water is responsible for Ramesh's death," said Ramesh's uncle. "This must be probed and our family must get justice," he added.